Cycle News

VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P121 the FIM World Superbike Championship year. AMA regular Scott Russell finished second in both legs. In spite of the big crowds that showed up to Brainerd each year, the original plan was to have a two-race North American swing with the promoters splitting the costs of bringing over the series. The boycott of the Mosport round in '91 by most series regulars meant a Canadian round was off the table, so Brainerd lost its race as well. It would be four years before the series, as it became well established, would travel back to America. It was with great fanfare that World Super- bike came to Laguna in 1995. The series was rising so quickly in popularity it was beginning to challenge GP racing. Some massive crowds showed up to watch the superbikes on the Monterey Peninsula in the late '90s and early 2000s, when the champion- ship hit its absolute peak with AMA riders regularly competing in a showdown of what then was the two most popular superbike championships in the world. Bad boy Anthony Gobert took the victory in leg one of the renewal of the American round in 1995. In leg two, it was Troy Corser, making it an all-Aussie affair. The AMA regulars did well. Miguel Duhamel, on his way to winning the AMA Superbike title that year, finished on the podium (third) in the first leg. His Honda teammate Mike Hale did the same in race two. In 1996 John Kocinski put America back on top, by winning race one. Kocinski would come back and sweep both legs in 1997 en route to winning that year's championship. The AMA was well represented in '97 with Duhamel finishing on the podium twice. In '98 it was Troy Corser and Nori Haga splitting the wins and again AMA riders Doug Chandler and Ben Bostrom earned podium finishes. It was finally time to shine for AMA Superbike rid- ers in 1999. That year AMA riders Anthony Gobert and Ben Bostrom split the wins, both riding for Vance & Hines Ducati. In what proved to be the best outing for the AMA heroes. Ben Bostrom swept the Laguna races in 2001. Then the ever-popular Colin Edwards finally scored a win at the circuit in 2002. The late '90s to early 2000s races proved the absolute zenith of WSBK in America. It was the highly anticipated showdown between WSBK and AMA riders and fans flooded in to watch. Several things happened that quickly diminished the race's popularity. MotoGP began allowing four-strokes, and sever- al manufacturers shifted their focus to that series. That also shifted fan attention to the premier road racing series, following a period when the two- stroke GP era had grown stagnant. Then World Superbike went to spec tires in 2004, meaning it would be difficult, if not impossi- ble for AMA Superbike teams to participate. World Superbike at Laguna rapidly lost momentum and in 2005 MotoGP came back to the circuit, leaving World Superbike high and dry in America. It was four years before World Superbike would return and this time to Utah. Initially popular, the Utah event, with its remote location, could not sus- tain the kind of crowds needed to support a world championship event. It was over after five years (2008-2012). Notable during the Utah period was Ben Spies sweeping the races in 2009. It marked the last time an American rider would win his home WSBK event. In 2015, the series returned to Laguna Seca with Chaz Davies, who had raced several years in the AMA series, sweeping the weekend. Last year it was Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes splitting the wins. For now, the FIM Superbike World Champion- ship seems stable at Laguna Seca. MotoAmerica rules are aligning more closely, which means wildcard entries might, once again, be a possibility, but the spec tires in both championships, continue to be problematic for American squads. Fans can only hope that some arrangement can be made in the future that will once again produce the epic showdown between the World Superbike and MotoAmerica regulars. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

• Cover
• a
• b